CHICAGO – There are only a few times that I have left a film mentally shouting, “Won’t someone think of the children?” Not through some self-righteous religious fit, of course, but through a general concern for the animated films created for our young. “Smurfs: The Lost Village” is either made for a specific crowd in mind or made for a crowd without a mind.

CHICAGO – I’ve been quoting Martin Scorsese over the years, that he said “movies are a psychotic’s feverish dream on display.” In searching for those words, I found he never said it. He did say they are “dreams with eyes open.” So let us combine the two quotes in analyzing Terence Malick’s “Knight of Cups.”

CHICAGO – You know those amateur porns with no-name actors that use cheesy dialogue in between the sex scenes those viewers simply want? You never expect a real story or actually developed characters because it’s a collection of sex scenes. It’s not a real, you know, movie.

CHICAGO – Jada Pinkett Smith was doing it her way long before she became half of one of Hollywood’s biggest power couples. From modest beginnings, she worked her way up through the entertainment ranks on television, movies and in a metal band (more on that below). She portrays Rome in the sequel “Magic Mike XXL.”

CHICAGO – The crime thriller “Sabotage” is the least predictable and most intense of the handful of post Governator action movies Arnold Schwarzenegger has starred in. Last year’s “The Last Stand” had a sense of humor about it, along with a nod to classic Westerns, that lightened the bloody violence, but here is a gritty film that proudly displays its tattoos and adrenaline in a testosterone-laced delivery.

CHICAGO – In the latest HollywoodChicago.com Hookup: Film with our unique social giveaway technology, we have 40 pairs of advance-screening passes up for grabs to the new DEA action film “Sabotage” starring Arnold Schwarzenegger!

CHICAGO – It’s a Happy Birthday for Joe Manganiello. The “True Blood” hunk was born on December 28th in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and has a red-hot career after co-starring last year in “Magic Mike,” with Channing Tatum and Matthew McConaughey. Manganiello was in Chicago recently meeting fans and signing his new book.

CHICAGO – Warner Bros. advertised Steven Soderbergh’s “Magic Mike” as a non-stop beefcake show, the equivalent of “Showgirls” for the ladies. It’s not quite that. In fact, the film is more drama than most people expected when it was advertised as little more than a skin parade. Even with that in mind, Warner Bros. knows their target audience and have cleverly put together a Blu-ray release designed to appeal to bachelorette parties too embarrassed to see the movie in theaters.

CHICAGO – It turns out that Channing Tatum did a bit of male stripping on the way up the show business ladder, which adds some spice and verisimilitude to “Magic Mike,” a backstage tale about the masculine side of theatrical disrobing, supported by Matthew McConaughey and Alex Pettyfer.

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CHICAGO – The “breeder years” are difficult on everyone, as the biological imperative becomes overwhelming and the couplings that result yield both discovery and misadventure. Nothing Without a Company’s new play “Bobby Pin Girls” highlight two such Millennial women, roommates who are having man trouble, although the argument can be made that it’s eternally “boy trouble.” The show has a Thursday-Sunday run at the Chicago Mosaic School through December 10th, 2017. Click here for more details, including ticket information.

CHICAGO – Knock me over with a feather kids, but I enjoyed “Transformers: The Last Knight.” Maybe it was in comparison to the others or maybe director Michael Bay has beaten me into submission, but this one had the right story elements and casting to make it work, with exceptions of course. It’s goofiness is its charm, and it was released on Blu-Ray/DVD on September 26th, 2017 (Digital HD already available).